The Psycho Soldier
by Captain Vulcan
Summary: Enter Athena Asamiya. Now a young adult and facing hellified changes and challenges in her life. She has matured, which may explains her absence in her training and her little weight gain. So, what does this have to do with her being 'psychotic? Peep this
1. The Start of Something Crazy

This fiction is rated PG-13 and contains numerous guest characters. So with that said, that means that I do not own any of the characters and in no way trying to make any profit from the story. This story is for entertainment purposes so be easy and enjoy.

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The King of Fighter© Series

The Psycho Soldier

Prologue

The Beginning of Something Insane

Athena twisted and turned on her bed in annoyance as she tried to ignore the sounds of her alarm clock. Minutes of doing this, eventually, the lavender haired woman shot the device with a blast of her psychic ability. She sat up with a groan knowing that the damn clock has done it's job. "Darn." She cursed. "I've could have sworn that I just fell asleep a hour ago."

She gazed at her now clobbered clock and she could barely make out the digits that it displayed. "9:45?! I've been oversleeping again! I already missed out on my morning exercise."

She fumbled through her bed sheets and fell face first on the floor by accident. Her legs were tangled in the silky dark sheets and the ribbons that bind her hair in buns snapped loose from the impact. "Ah! That hurts! I have too many sheets on this bed for one thing."

Athena freed herself from the comforter and saunter towards her answering machine. So, she received thirty messages just last night? That was no surprise-- probably just numerous calls from fans and stalkers alike. But what she was really looking forward to was a call from her promoter or maybe a message from her ex, Kyo Kusanagi (what are the chances of that, the guy's supposedly engaged with Yuki anyway).

With a sigh, she simply let the messages play while she go take a good hot shower. Besides she had a feeling most of them weren't too important. Like what was mentioned before, they were probably just her fans and may be a few pleas for a date.

****

MESSAGE # 1: _"What's your favorite scary movie?"_

Annoyed, Athena immediately pressed they next button and heads for the shower.

****

MESSAGE # 2: _"What's up, Athena-chan? It's me, Kensou..."_

Oh brother. Twenty-eight messages left. Like they'll be of any difference.

And about fifteen minutes later...

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MESSAGE #29: _"Athena, Sifu Chin wants us to meet him in Shanghai for a reunion banquet in two weeks. Maybe we can finally meet other students that he have taught._

Athena immediately burst out of the bathroom with only a bath robe on her body and a towel wrapped atop her head like a turban. A look of astonishment was on her features, 'Sifu Gentsai is having a reunion in Shanghai? Did I just heard right?' She wondered, taking all this in as good news. 'I've always wondered how he is doing these days. It's been a long time.'

And then, here comes something that really made her day.

****

MESSAGE #30 _"What's going on?"_ Said the voice. _"It's me, Kyo."_

That look of shock returned on her face once more, only this time it was doubled. Her face became multiple shades of red at this final message.

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"I know that this is all of a sudden, but... I have a lot on my mind lately and I really need to visit you today." Kyo continued, seemingly hesitant which was very out of character for him. _"How does later this afternoon sound to you? I hope that you'll be in by then."_

Athena squealed in joy and leapt onto her bed while giggling like an elementary schoolgirl while at it. It would be her pleasure-- er, her honor to invite him in this after noon but she had to wonder about the upcoming situation. What's wrong with Kyo? She knew that he was never the hesitant type in any matter except when it comes to her (she especially recalled when they were dating back in the days). Does this have something to do with his relationship with Yuki? Yuki was one of Athena's best friends and she was aware of the legacy of Kyo's and Yuki's heritage that cause them to be engaged together.

But what the hell. Kyo called her, not her for him. And whatever happens, happens. This will be fun just like in the old days. 'So, my dear Kyo-kun comes crawling back to me, eh?' Athena thought with a mischievous smirk on her face. 'This is too good to be true.'

She searched into the dresser beside her bed and took out a hair dryer and proceed to dry off her hair. While she was busy drying her locks a few plans formulated in her head. 'Okay. Don't panic. Kyo-kun is coming over today. What should I wear to impress/entice him?' She did thought of wearing one of her fighting outfit. The KOF' 96 outfit? Nah, too revealing, she gained a record amount of new fans that time. 'How about I go for something classy?' 2002 came into mind but she nodded in disapproval.

'Well, I could go for casual?' She asked herself. 'And no, the schoolgirl clothes won't do. I'm a little too old for that and I personally think the schoolgirl gimmick is out.' She frowned. 'As I might recall, Kyo-kun is a mad sports fan... I got it!!!'

With a snap of her fingers, Athena magically changed from her shower robes to a white and baby blue jersey skirt and pink and white Air Force Ones sneakers. Her jersey displayed the text 'MISTRESS ASAMIYA' with '04 underneath it. "Now this will do!" She exclaimed.

After deciding that her outfit was right for the day, she reached underneath her bed and fished out a scale. Cute superstars got to watch their weight too, you know? Hesitantly she gathered herself on the machine and baulked in shock.

"What the heck? One hundred and sixteen pounds!?" She shrieked in disbelief. "I cannot believe this. The last time I check I was one hundred and three." Now it was time for a little deep reminiscing. Two weeks ago she remembered Ken Sou coming over to visit and her gave her a pack of Chinese meat buns and she's been-- oh, that's the culprit. "Damn Ken Sou and his delicious recipes!" She snapped with a formidable battle aura radiating about her.

****

(A/N: Personally, Athena is pretty much lucky. Not really considered underweight but delicately slender.)

She chanced a glance at her mirror. Hmm. Not much has chanced about her though. How could she weigh so much? She hardly has a stomach but the appalling thing was that her hips flared further than she noticed. Yep, maybe it was time for her to wear black hoses when wearing dresses or skirts. "Nah. It must be the way this jersey looks on me." She concluded. "Guess I'll go on ahead and start my morning exercise before Kyo comes along."

Just before she could reach the door, some knocking were heard on the outside of it. Athena gritted her teeth but managed out a super sugar sweet "I'm coming. Who is it?"

"Yuko." Answered her visitor. "Open up. I know that you have just got out of bed, Athena."

Athena immediately opened the door for her suite mate. Yuko was an attractive twenty year old college student with black/blue hair and slightly taller than her friend. "What's up? So what are you up to now? I was just about to go out for my morning exercises."

Knowing that Athena was late for the routine for nearly two hours, Yuko grinned. "Ah ha. Just as I thought, you've been oversleeping again. Girl, you are getting a little lazy these days."

"Not true." Athena defended. "Just see how many hours of sleep that you will get if you spent the most of the night blasting stalkers and demented otakus with psycho blasts." She clarified and noticed the changes with her friends face. "Uh huh. I thought so."

"Well being a former Phantasm Soldier... I wouldn't know anything about that besides saving alternate realities." Yuko countered. "You're a world renowned singer, Athena. I wouldn't be caught dead living in an apartment. I'll buy an estate or move into a mansion if I were you."

Knowing that Yuko was speaking the truth Athena nodded. "Yes, I know that. But I'm not too sure about getting workers to build me a mansion and stuff. The media will damn sure enough be in your business then. And people from MTV and Vh1 starts to bother me about showing them around my crib while they are filming it."

Yuko shrugged. "Well, I guess that's the price of being a famous celebrity. The paparazzi being all up in your business."

"That's right. Now you see what I mean. I'm not building any mansion."

"Sheesh. All that money and don't know what to do with it." Yuko muttered humorously.

"I heard that." Athena giggled. "So what brings you into my neck of the woods anyway?"

"Don't you mind hanging out with me a bit? I'm just heading to the bank and to the restaurant for some breakfast. It wouldn't take long."

"Okay, I'll tag along." Athena conceded. "Anything to kill some time before Kyo comes over."

Yuko noticed what she said. "You're having a guest today? How do he look?" She asked with interest. "Is this guy single? Or a brother for that matter?"

"Yuko?" Athena began. "Do you remember that last time I set you up with a nice guy you thought was cute?" She laughed as she noticed Yuko's change in demeanor. "I see. You do remember."

"Why did you have to bring that up, Athena?" Yuko said with edge in her voice. It was five months ago when they were shopping at the mall and that is where Yuko met Thai Kickboxing extrodinare, Joe Higashi. Poor Yuko was oblivious to his ways and helplessly fell for his charms. So, she asked her friend to hook her up with Joe since Athena knew who he was.

But the funny thing was, Joe was already before Yuko's face when Athena introduced her suite mate without even finishing the first sentence. That sort of began their brief relationship. Several of their dates went just fine but Yuko became annoyed when the guy insisted on having sex after their dates. And if that wasn't enough, she especially grew tired of his compliments, which consisted of a 'cute face, skinny waist and wide butt' cliches. It was cute at first but she grew tired of them.

She gritted her teeth and a vein appeared on her forehead. "C'mon. Let's just go." Yuko commanded as she grabbed Athena by the wrist and pulled her out.

Oh well. She can skip her morning exercises for today. Some time hanging with Yuko may prove just the start for the day.

****

NOTE: If you are reading this, do any of you guys remember Yuko? She's the main heroine in the game series 'Valis: The Phantasm Soldier' which began way back in the early/middle 80's. Man, that game was tight as hell! With the smooth play and tight theme music. I know it's been years since their last release (and I hope Talent Japan decides to unearth the series. A Valis game for today's console is way too enticing!) but I know that I ain't the only one that remember the series. Maybe writing legends like MR. Lewis and captainspoon may remember them.

Shoot, anyway this is my first King of Fighters story, so it's going to be tough to get accustomed to the legendary characters of the series. But just because it's tough doesn't mean that it will not be fun, don't it.

So, tell me what you think.

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	2. The Bank Robbery

_The King of Fighters_

_The Psycho Soldier_

_The Bank Robbery_

"Aw c'mon, Athena, tell me." Yuko prodded, her mind set on concentrating on Athena's mystery guest rather than the road. "Does this guy have any brothers? I'm not desperate, just curious."

"For the last time, Yuko, he does not have any brothers." Athena retorted with a sigh. "Besides, the guy is engaged to another woman. So that means that there is nothing like that going on between us."

Yuko smiled a mischievous smile. "Ah… I see." She began in an analyzing tone. "You two are keeping this on the down-low?" Obviously she had picked that one up from her studies in America. "I can respect that."

"What did you just say?" Athena demanded in a baffled breath.

"Girl, you know that this 'friendship' that you speak of is straight out of a soap opera." Yuko stated firmly while trying her best to suppress her mirth. "I mean, come on, there is no way a woman and man as close as you two are just merely… friends." She allowed the 'friends' part linger a bit for emphasis, and with expected results to boot.

Athena was stricken by dumbfounded silence, with her eyes wide and her face deep pink in color. Her neighbor was really on to her and she can easily sense a relationship a mile away. Yuko held a tiny smirk on her face because she couldn't have been more correct. "I ah… um… well, we were once in love with each other a while back." She confessed.

"Ha!" Yuko laughed triumphantly. "I knew it! I knew it all along!" She pumped a fist in the air and nearly ran in the opposite lane. "Tap water couldn't even be any clearer."

"But it wasn't anything serious!" Athena quickly amended. "It was all just a mere high school crush. So, we been out on a few dates but we didn't… do the 'thing' with each other. It wasn't deep at all."

"Well didn't one of you ever confessed love to each other at least once?" Yuko grilled and knew that she was effortlessly draining some personal info about her companion's past. "Or maybe just a kiss on the lips?" Her inquisitiveness persisted.

Athena was about to shoot back another reproach but (wisely) decided to close the case on the subject while ahead. "Nah." She dismissed. "That's about it from me about that, Yuko. You're trying to pull the wool over my eyes, eh?"

Yuko halted the car to a stop at the traffic light and regarded Athena with mock innocence. "Who? Me? Why Asamiya, would you really think of me as the type of person to pry in the affairs of others?"

"People," Athena mock applauded, "we have a winner."

Yuko shrugged, sort of indifferently. "I'm not really worried about that. The truth will soon come into the light." She said in a voice hinted with conspiracy. Finally reaching her destination, she parallel parked her car between two SUV's at the bank. "We're here. I have to take care of some financial business and knock off a loan. It'll take a few minutes." She got out of the vehicle.

"Alright. Take your time." Said Athena before smirking mischievously. 'I bet you have a bounced check somewhere in your account…'

Moments after Yuko went inside the bank to 'take care of business', Athena noticed two suspicious figures hopping out of the back of a FEDEX delivery truck. Her suspicions aroused, she slowly got out of the car and noticed some spray paint on the delivery truck after inspecting it. Instead of 'FEDEX', the red streak replaced 'EX' with 'UP', in other words; 'FED UP'.

Sighing to herself, she decided to enter the bank to confront the would be bank robbers. "Here goes nothing." She said to herself. "Just like old times."

She entered the building and kept a critical gaze at the scenery for the two suspects. Among the business scenario, there were people making loans, depositing/withdrawing money, getting paid, and there was Yuko sitting patiently at a receptionist desk. It was too quiet and she became dubious. 'Hmm… There's probably no need for me to be so alarmed."

"Athena." Yuko beckoned her quietly. "So, you decided to come inside, huh?"

She nodded in response. "Yeah. After you went inside the bank there were two guys jumping out of a stolen FEDEX truck. So I decided to see what was up about that." She replied.

"A stolen delivery truck?" Yuko asked skeptically. "You made you think that it was stolen, Athena?"

"FED UP." Athena simply answered. "There's definitely something screwy about that."

Yuko nodded in confusion. "Athena, that doesn't explain anything."

A gunshot was heard, followed by the threat of, "Nobody move, and nobody will get hurt!" The tone of voice was really hard to tell. It was neither too feminine nor masculine, just sort of in between. A tone sort of like Michael Jackson's vocals. The two suspects were wearing all black and ski masks.

"Aw man." Yuko cursed her luck. "This isn't good at all." She raised her arms in surrender.

"I knew I was right all along." Athena concluded. "They were waiting for a right time to come out from the bathroom." She frowned in concentration. The two goons held a familiar air about them. "No… It can't be!"

"I know." Yuko agreed. "This really was a bad time to go to the bank."

"No, not that." Athena explained. "It's like I met those two before."

"You did? Well, do something about it." Yuko commanded. "I'm unprepared and unarmed." She ten noticed one of the robbers was heading her way. "Aw man, here he comes."

The assailant prodded the weapon on her chest, seemingly playfully, much to Yuko's ire. But she knew better than to lash her anger out on him without her equipment. "Give me all the money that you got on you, lady! Cough it up!"

At the front desk, on of the employees was about to press the alarm but a sudden blast of energy demolished the desk which alarmed everyone. "I knew that you were about to do that." The other thief laughed.

Athena's eyes widened in surprise. 'A ball of ki? It look just like…"

Yuko emptied her purse of the spare change that she had. "Hey, that's all that I have on me. So please don't pull that trigger okay? You should be happy with that big bag of money you have on you anyway."

The thief prodded the pistol to Yuko's chest harder, making her wince. "You wouldn't lie to me now would you?"

"Now why would I lie in a situation like this, hmm?" Yuko reasoned.

"That's enough!" Athena suddenly bellowed, alarming everyone inside the bank, including the robbers. "You know very well that you two are not getting away with this!"

"Is that you Athena?" The robbers said in voices of recognition. In that very moment, Yuko took the opportunity to slam her assailant in a take-down and managed to snag his hand gun.

"It looks like the script has been flipped on you." Said Yuko, training the pistol on the downed robber. "You should have listened to my friend's warning." She glances over at the other robber at the front. "You hear that, one false move and your buddy here is done for. Return all the cash and give yourselves up."

Athena quickly yanked off the downed robber's mask. "Chris!?"

"Damn. They got me." He cursed. "Hey Pao, you may need to take care of these two."

Athena gazed at the other masked man in astonishment. "I can't be? Is it really you, Pao? But why are you doing this? Why are you doing something so stupid as in robbing a bank?"

The masked man chuckled and pulled off his mask. "Ah, long time no see, Athena-sempai. I thought you may recognize me. I felt you were sensing my ki the entire time we were here."

Boldly, Athena approached Pao. He now towers slightly over her but she was in the least bit intimidated. "Pao… you've grown. But why did you turned to the life of crime?"

"Hold up!" Yuko suddenly shouted. "You told me about him. You said that he was the midget that kept getting into your team's way, correct?" She wondered aloud.

Athena waved her arms frantically. "Yuko!! Stop!! It was just nonsense!"

"Well… apparently he's not an annoying midget anymore. Apparently he isn't weak either." She continued. "I mean look at him, he's taller than you are and his shoulders are broad…"

"Yuko, shut the heck up!" Athena urged, and suddenly she felt Pao's hand on her shoulder. "Ah… My friend here was just joking, Pao." She fronted with fake laughter. "Yuko here is a real class comedian."

Pao glared down at his former teammate menacingly. "So? I was just an annoying little midget, eh? A weak and insignificant fighter, huh?" Pao said slowly. "Hmm. How about we have a battle, Athena-sempai? Just me and you. And no, you don't have to worry about the Orochi kid there."

The said older male retorted from the floor. "Hey! I resent that!"

"Shuddap you!" Yuko snarled at him, with the gun still trained on him. "Well Athena, he sounds like a fair man. Will you accept his challenge? It should be a piece of cake if he is anything like you said about him."

Athena gulped. 'Ah… I certainly hope so…"

Pao chuckled. "Rest assured, Athena. I am no longer the feeble kid that you regarded me so back in the day." He raised his ki a bit to channel another attack. "Are you ready for me?" He lashed out his hand. "PSYCHO BALL!!"

"Pao!!" Athena screamed. The psycho ball was unbelievably fast to a point that it rivaled her very own. "Sift Chin always told us to avoid as many unnecessary battles as we can!" She blasted a psychic sphere of her own to dispel the on speeding towards her.

The force of the explosion made her flew back to a wall with a crash. "Damn… that was highly unexpected. You gotten strong, Pao… indeed."

"Athena, are you okay?" Yuko inquired in worry.

"I'm fine." Athena replied as she pried herself off the floor. "I'm just a little astonished that Pao has been training hard for all these years. He made good progress." She eyed the said boy. "I'm sorry for disappointing you, Pao."

"Well, are you going to get this show on the road and show me your true power?" Pao demanded with a frown. "That's not the ever versatile Athena that I know. I want to see how I can measure up to you now. I want to defeat you at your very best, Athena-sempai."

Athena nodded and bowed Kung Fu style. "Very well, Pao." Her once lilting voice firm and imposing. "Ikuyo…"

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

_Fun Fact:_

It may come as a surprise to some but the voice actress of Athena, Haruna Ikezawa, also provides the voice for Foxy and Diana in the same series. I didn't even know until someone told me. Well, that's that.


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